South Melbourne were red hot favourites against the Reds, but though Melbourne occupied a lowly position on the ladder they had troubled more than one good team in recent weeks and took a narrow lead into quarter time. They got the last goal of the quarter after South had put on three behinds to open the game.

The lead was back to two points at the half, before the Dees shot out to a manageable lead when Tommy Crow kicked his first league goal but South recovered to a three point advantage at the last change.

Melbourne grabbed the lead entering time on, but couldn't hold South out and conceded a late goal to lose.

At the end of the season, during a wide-ranging investigation into match fixing, Joe Pearce and Harry Brereton both claimed they had been offered money by South players to 'play dead' during the match. The VFL did not uphold the charge.